Brody Lawrence: 9 Month Update

Well, well, well.  Brody turned 9 months old 10 days ago, and here I am, the same day as his doctor's appointment, posting on my blog. :)

Weight: 20 pounds 3.5 ounces (56%)

Length: 30 inches or 2 feet 6 inches (94%)

Head Circumference: 45 cm (46%)

Physical Milestones:  He started cruising the furniture and really getting from one position to another very easily this month. He transitions from sitting to crawling to sitting to standing to crawling all very smoothly.  He also has become more daring with his standing and will often remove one hand to reach for something out the the side and remain standing with very little support.  On his 9 month birthday, he decided to stand on his own a few times for about 5 seconds or so.  I wasn't expecting it at all so it was a nice surprise.

By 9 months, Kayla had walked across my mom and dad's living room so we told Brody he's a little bit of a slacker.  :)  Although Dr. H seems to think he'll be taking steps soon.
Eating:  Brody's pincher grasp has become great and he's getting better with a sippy cup.  He still much prefers solids and finger foods to purees.  It's a bit of a challenge to find something for everyone but that's ok.  He eats anything I put in front of him.  So much different than Kayla.  In fact, I think the fact that he eats everything is encouraging Kayla a little bit.  Once this month, I sauteed some mushrooms with garlic and Brody ate those up.  We are still nursing 4-5 times a day and once at night (usually).    

Sleeping:  Holy moly we are a million times better.  We've hit that milestone where I don't feel bad about staying up until 10 because I know most likely I'll get to sleep until at least 3 am.  He's been sleeping from 6:30 or 7 until between 3-4, CONSISTENTLY!  He did have a bad stretch when he was pretty sick.  He threw up for like 24 hours.  And then got RIGHT BACK ON SCHEDULE.  Without having to re train him.  If I feed him between 3-4, he usually sleeps until at least 6 or 6:30 am.  If we let him cry for a few minutes, he will put himself back to sleep but then he's up at 5 or 5:30.  I think I'll take the middle of the night feeding and later morning any day.  

Napping routine is still pretty good (although this routine is NOT what happens at day care.)  He naps around 8:30 or 9 and then again around 1-1:30.  The best part about this is, he and Kayla are NAPPING AT THE SAME TIME almost every day.  I'm starting to feel like super Mom again (not really but seriously this took a long time.)

Likes:  Brody really loves chasing Kayla, standing and rocking whatever he's standing against (i.e. the activity cube has fallen on top of him a few times.).  He also really loves crawling up the stairs.  He will be playing on the floor, look at me to see if I'm watching him "play with his toys" and then the second I turn, he sprints towards the stairs smiling and laughing.  He's going to be trouble.  He also loves banging things together.  I mean really loves it.  He picks up any two things, hits them together and then gets this look on his face like he's discovered the secret to life.  Maybe he's right, and if he is, we should all be enjoying life a lot more if banging stuff is the secret to life.  :)

I feel bad I've been trying to catch up and posting so much about Brody so here's a few of both my "kiddos" (as Kayla repeats after me) and one of my little peanut (who is only about 6 pounds heavier than her brother.)

My Weighing Technique

I realized probably many of my lovely readers didn't and don't understand my reference to Brian Regan, who is an AMAZING comedian.  You are missing out.  Seriously, check him out.

Here's a skit I love, and this is how I've been weighing Brody...

Brody Lawrence: 8 Month Update

Almost caught up!!

Weight: Around 19.5 pounds...based on my Brian Regan scale technique.

Length: Not a clue.

Head Circumference: Still no idea.

Physical Milestones:  This month he has become a lot more daring with climbing and pulling up to stand on everything.  He's also learned how to get himself down, although it's still slowly and carefully.

Eating:  We started giving Brody more finger foods this month and he is SOOOOO much happier.  Still feeding him 3 meals a day and 5-6 nursing sessions typically.  Unlike Kayla, there isn't much that Brody won't eat.  They love him at daycare and he eats so well there.  Never does is say anything but "all" next to what he ate on his daily summary.    

Sleeping:  Our little crappy stretch of sleep eventually got a little bit better.  He had a hard time when he could stand up in his crib but couldn't get back down.  We ended up trying to stick with a consistent routine in the middle of the night (as for naps and going to bed he is really quite a good sleeper).  We decided I would only nurse him once and it would have to be at least 8 hours after he went to bed.  If he cried before 8 hours, we used a modified cry it out routine where we would go in after 5 min, 6 min, 7 min etc.  He ended up having a pretty good stretch of sleeping for about 3 weeks or so where he would wake up at 3 or 4 and eat, then sleep until close to 6 (sleeping in yay!).

We also got into a great napping routine: 2 naps, 1 around 8:30 or 9 for about an hour and half and then another around 1 or 1:30 for an hour and a half.  We also decided he may just be a kid that needs an earlier bedtime so we try to put him down between 6 and 6:30 on the days I don't work.  The problem is this is impossible the 2 days during the week I work. We are getting there I think.

Other:  Brody really like "tall kneeling" or kneeling more upright. It's one of his favorite positions.  He loves watching Kayla run around him in the basement and tries to lunge and "catch" her.  It's truly a joy to watch my kids love each other.

He has a weird obsession with chewing on these tiny Melissa & Doug dolls from Kayla's toys.

Tall kneeling

This 8 month photo session was a bit difficult.  Brody was a big cranky and I had to give him some MumMums to keep him quite.  Brody made some great faces while eating the MumMum.  

Brody was really enjoying "showing me" his MumMum

Brody Lawrence: 7 Month Update

I'm writing this as I write the 6 and 8 month updates as well, so it's likely there could be some overlap and I'm not 100% sure when exactly everything happened, but who is going to tell me I'm wrong?? :)

Weight: Completely unsure but when I step on the scale with him it looks to be about 18-18.5 Pounds

Length: Not a clue.

Head Circumference:  See above.

Physical Milestones:  Brody officially starting "true" crawling this month.  I didn't think he would but he's a fan now.  We moved into our new house and he's a HUGE fan of crawling up the stairs.  Time to buy some baby gates ASAP.  He also started pulling to stand towards the end of this month.  He really loves standing but has a really hard time getting down from standing.  This is leading to a lot of fussing.

Eating:  Still feeding him 3 meals a day of purees, but he is showing more and more interest in our food and less and less interest in being a passive part in the feeding process.  He's developing a pretty great pincher grasp.  He's not a huge fan of sitting in his high chair at all and feeding is turning into a big struggle.  He is still nursing 5 times usually a day/night.  

Sleeping:  He was doing pretty good right before we moved and for the first week or so of being in our new house.  As you know based one the 2 blogs I have actually written since we moved that the move was extremely difficult and stressful with sleeping and new day care.  He was waking up once to eat and then typically sleeping until at least 5:30 am.  Towards the end of this month, he has been waking up about every hour or two screaming at night.  We are exhausted and unsure what to do.  We aren't convinced letting him cry is what is best for him at the moment so we are just going to try to do what we can and get through this bad phase, which is difficult enough.

Other:  He's doing great at the new daycare (Kayla is in a different room as he is).  The teachers LOVE him and he's always flirting with all the ladies in the room.  He is a GREAT eater at day care.

I realized I could never be a photographer because I have the hardest time narrowing down photos...I guess it might be different if it wasn't my own kids.  They just have so many facial expressions I want to keep them all!